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Our Mexico Vacation Part 1

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

It's time to recap my vacation in Mexico. I will probably split this up in two or three posts due to the large amount of photos.

I am going to skip over most of the travel part and save that for my Traveling With Toddlers post. I could write a novel after traveling with toddlers. Add the second toddler in and I have a trilogy. Just kidding. Kind of.

We flew into San Francisco for an almost two hour layover. We knew we needed to get some food for us and the girls and get the girls some milk for our next leg. Everywhere we went in SFO either had a long line or no high chairs. We were feeling like we might have to get bagels and call it good when we found Gordon Biersch had some seats and high chairs. Enter our $90 breakfast. Ouch. We had three breakfast plates, a bottle of whole milk, a bloody mary and mimosa for $90. So not worth it, but we had to make due.

We ate, changed some poopy diapers and made our way to our gate for Mexico.

Sutton's selfie with mommy

Four hours later and we were in Mexico. One 20 minute cab ride and we were at our condo and our home for the next 8 days.

My in-laws greeted us at the door, helped us in and got us settled in. We were able to unpack (while the grandparents played with the girls), change and settle in. Side note: our condo had two bedrooms in it and my in-laws gave us the big room (master room with bathroom) for our 8 days there. They had it prior to our arrival and moved to the other room when we got there. We had two pack n plays (larger than the normal ones) set up, fresh sheets and plenty of room.

Plus we had coffee waiting for us. The girls settled in nicely to their Mexico way of life...hanging out in a onesie, having picnics on the floor and crawling/walking every inch of the condo.

Sutton walking all over the balcony

Avery playing with her toys on the balcony

Baby butts

After getting settled in, my in-laws suggested we go out to dinner while they watched the girls, fed them and put them down for the night. Don't mind if we do.

We ventured out to Pancho's Takos for their amazing pastor tacos. I found this place on Trip Advisor on our last trip (in 2014) and it has become a family favorite ever since. We were seated promptly (mostly because we went at 6:30 pm and they eat later in Mexico), made our order and were brought out beers. Then a tub of oil was spilled and when it hit the floor it splashed all over my back. Ugh. They were super nice about it though. They and Rory tried to clean it off as much as they could, gave us free beers, a free appetizer and apologized. Hey, it happens. Even though it ruined my shirt. Boo.

We had their guac and it was to die for. We ate every last bit of it. Then they gave us blistered onions in this heavenly sauce and followed it up with our tacos. I had 5 and Rory had 7. Way too many, but so heavenly.

Working on the pastor meat

Heaven on a plate

Meanwhile, the girls were hanging out with my in-laws and having a great time.

After dinner, we knew we needed to walk off some of the food we just ate, so we headed down to the pier and people watched for awhile.

Then we decided to hit the Melacon for more people watching and maybe some ice cream. The Melacon is the best place to people watch. Plus since it was Friday night, they had performers, sand art and all the clubs were opening up. We hit up Buonissimo for some gelato.

Coconut and coffee gelato

And then we watched the sunset while walking around some more.

And made our way back to the condo for more beers and catching up with my in-laws.

Saturday morning we headed to our favorite breakfast at Fredy's Tucan. It did not disappoint. The girls loved starting their breakfast out with a homemade pastry. So good. And they proceeded to demolish french toast while we had chilaquiles.

Waiting to be seated to breakfast

After breakfast, we put the girls down for a nap, relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine. We spent our days reading, playing, up at the roof top pool, walking around town, many stroller rides, stopping by our favorite pastry shop and just enjoying vacation.

Saturday night my in-laws headed to dinner first while we fed the girls, got them ready for bed, gave them bottles and put them to bed. Once they were done, they came back and we headed out for dinner ourselves. This happened almost every night as it was just easier with the girls schedule.

That night we headed to Jorge's Highway Shrimp Shack where we had lots of margaritas (mango for me and regular for Rory) and amazing food. I had the tortilla soup and Rory had an amazing salad with jicama, avocado, balsamic dressing and a ton of other veggies. I had the house favorite which was diablo shrimp in a halved pineapple. Seriously the best. It came with red rice, sauteed veggies and a mini salad. Rory had the seared tuna special. Both dishes were amazing. We were given a complimentary evening cocktail and felt like family here. We went for a walk after and headed back to the condo for some wine, the sunset and relaxation.

Sunday morning we headed to Memo's Pancake House for breakfast where we all enjoyed waffles and coffee. We then went back to the condo to put the girls down for a nap and then we headed off to a spa for fish therapy and pedicures. I posted some photos from it on IG and got a lot of questions and comments on the fish therapy.

The fishes come from Russia and once you stick your feet in they start to suck the dead skin cells off your feet and legs. They don't eat the skin, they just suck it off. The water is constantly filtered over and over again and the fishes keep going until you take your feet out of the water. It does not hurt, but it tickles a ton for the first 2 to 3 minutes and then you get used to it. They will clean between your toes, around your cuticles and even the bottoms of your feet. It feels pretty cool and it was a great experience. We had our feet in there for 20 minutes and then had a pedicure.

Now I had gel on my toes, but they assured me that they can remove it and give me a full pedicure, so I thought why not. Big mistake. The person that was performing my pedicure was different from the one who told me it would be easy to remove the gel. She started working away and removed gel from two nails. No biggie. Then the third nail, I don't know what she was doing because I was talking to Rory and relaxing, but she ripped 3/4 of my toe nail off and it bled. Bad. She freaked out, got up and I believe was promptly fired or demoted because she changed into street clothes and left.

I was ready to just say let me be and leave because it hurt. It hurt really bad, but then came my godsend. This lady knew what she was doing. She treated the ripped nail, gave me the pedicure of a lifetime with extra foot massage, extra scrubs, a beautiful watermelon pink and an apology. The only thing missing was a shot of tequila to help with the pain. I didn't have to pay for my pedicure and at this point I was batting 0 with a ruined grease shirt and a ripped toe nail.

Meanwhile, the girls were playing with Kleenex and keeping the grandparents busy.

That evening we ventured out to Chenan2 for dinner and it was a huge hit. We started off with guac and some amazing salsa. Rory had the mixed fajitas with filet and prawns and it was to die for. I had the seafood pasta which was full of octopus, mussels and prawns with asparagus, garlic and peppers in a lobster sauce. Amazing. It was served with bread that had a light pesto sauce. Then we opted for the lime pie and Mexican coffee (coffee with liquor). Dinner was amazing and we had a nice walk back to the condo after. And more wine. I had to nurse my hurt foot after all the walking and all.

The girls had an amazing time. They loved it there. The only thing that was hard was keeping them contained with the tiled floors. They constantly had dirty knees and feet from walking and crawling everywhere. But they toughed it out. And the girls hair had curls in it. So cute!!! The toe nail is still recovering.

I kept my composure. Rory said I barely flinched when my toe nail was ripped off, but inside I was screaming. It hurt, but I didn't want to freak the girl out. She did anyways. Ha. You should go to PV. It is the best place.

Everything sounds amazing so far (with the exception of the toe, of course - OUCH!) but I can't wait to hear more!! I am the MOST ticklish person ever so I would have probably been tripping out the whole time I had my feet in the tub with the fish!!

What an awesome trip! And yay for a date nights. Aren’t Grandparents the best? The coconut and coffee gelato sounds delish. I have seen the fish pedicures, but have never done one. So weird, but cool. Can’t wait to read more about your trip!

Omgosh, what an awesome (yet painful) first part of the trip. That was so perfect having your in-laws there not only for company, but as built in baby sitters, and I know they enjoyed that time with the girls. And, the FOOD. Wow. That looked incredible!!!!

They ask me to send lots of pictures since they miss seeing the girls daily. They were big helps on that trip. Couldn't have done it without them. And they have their first overnight with the girls this weekend (at their house).